Keep up to date with all the news happening at our academy at the moment.

• Mrs Sue Harrison retires after 30 years!

  Tue 27 Jul 2021

  Teaching assistant remembers career highlights from 30 years as retirement calls

   

  Pupils and staff at Djanogly Northgate Academy are saying farewell this summer to a long serving teaching assistant.

   

  Sue Harrison has completed 30 years’ service at the school having started as a support assistant in 1991.

   

  Sue said: “What I have most enjoyed about the job is supporting the children and working as part of a team.”

   

  Sue progressed to become a special needs teaching assistant. During the last 10 years she has been working with Year 6 children.

   

  Her most recent job role has been as the lead teaching assistant at Djanogly Northgate Academy, where she has concentrated on helping children in booster groups.

   

  Sue has seen many changes over three decades including five headteachers and the growth of the school after it became an academy under Liz Anderson’s leadership, and she has many proud moments.

   

  She explained: “My proudest moments include supporting a child who was at Level 2 in maths to reach Level 4. Another proud moment was when I was working with a Reading Rocks group that were so in tune with one another it was a joy to have discussions with them. The group knew exactly what was expected of them.”

   

  Other memorable moments include dressing up as a lobster at the Under the Sea themed summer fair and an incident one Christmas when children were allowed to bring food from home for parties. Sue recalled: “We had a little boy who wanted to bring chicken in. He certainly did - it was a full frozen chicken with the wrapper still on!”

   

  Sue has mixed feelings about retiring. She explained: “This has been my life for 30 years. It will be a wrench leaving but I will also be glad to have some time for me. I’m planning to travel around the UK and also visit my grandchildren in Germany. I want to start making my homemade greeting cards again. Not setting my alarm clock at 5.20am every morning will be a novelty for me!”

   

  Liz Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, Djanogly Learning Trust, said: “I would like to thank Sue for her long standing service to Djanogly Northgate Academy – she has made a fantastic contribution over the years and I wish her all the very best for her retirement.”

  

• Djanogly Learning Trust celebrates its 10th birthday.

  Thu 22 Jul 2021

  Djanogly Learning Trust celebrates its 10th birthday with pupils and staff

   

  Djanogly Learning Trust is celebrating a major milestone this month.

   

  The Trust turns 10-years-old on August 1st, 2021 and Djanogly Northgate Academy will be joining in the celebrations.

   

  Pupils and staff at the Trust’s eight schools across the East Midlands are marking the occasion with a series of celebrations.

   

  Due to current circumstances pupils and staff at Djanogly Northgate will be having a celebration event early in September. In this way we are able to mark the 10^th Anniversary like all our other Academies.

   

  “A 10 year partnership is something truly remarkable and well deserving of a recognition event. The children and staff at Northgate have benefited from being a part of a larger family of schools as well as being able to play their own part in this collaboration. The children at Northgate really do benefit from being part of the Djanogly family of schools.” Said Donna Humphries Head teacher at Northgate.

   

  Liz Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, Djanogly Learning Trust, said: “It’s a great feeling to reach this milestone. I am incredibly proud of our pupils and staff, and what we have achieved together as part of our successful growing family of schools.”

   

  She added: “Our aim is to provide the best possible opportunities to ensure that our children thrive and succeed and develop resilience to face challenges - that ethos unites all of our academies.”

   

  Highlights during the last decade include enhancing the quality of teaching and learning resulting in Ofsted ‘good’ grades for Djanogly Northgate Academy and Djanogly Strelley Academy.

   

  Djanogly City Academy, which is also Ofsted graded ‘good’, is the highest performing secondary school in Nottingham for students’ progress, according to the government’s last performance tables published in 2019 prior to the pandemic.

   

  The Trust opened Djanogly Sherwood Academy to meet increased demand for places in 2018. Its family of schools has grown further with Springfield Academy, Langley Mill Academy and Kensington Academy joining in the last four years.

   

  The emergence of the pandemic has meant adjusting to new challenges during the last 18 months putting safety measures in place, adapting to home learning and supporting families with food parcels.

   

  Liz Anderson added: “I would like to thank our pupils, and their families, for their resilience, patience and support, as well our staff for their incredible response to the biggest challenge we have faced responding to the pandemic. It has been a real team effort.”

   

  All of the Trust’s schools - Djanogly City Academy, Djanogly Northgate Academy, Djanogly Strelley Academy, Djanogly Sherwood Academy and Springfield Academy in Nottingham as well as Laceyfields Academy in Heanor, Langley Mill Academy in Langley Mill and Kensington Academy in Ilkeston - are supporting the celebrations with activities such as party games, sports activities and picnics.